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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Stuffed Bitter-Gourd Stir-Fry

I started eating bitter-gourd since last year only. Since childhood, the name of this vegetable didn't please me and I never got through the idea that why on earth people want to eat a bitter stir-fry!! All my childhood and till last year, I stuck by my thinking until my husband once asked me at-least taste it. He told me that you cook it for me but never eat yourself. You should at-least try it once and if you don't like it, don't eat. I tasted, I liked (and thought to myself.....not as bitter as I thought, in fact it's tasty bitter) and I started eating.

Stuffed bitter gourd (called Karela in hindi) served on bed of stir-fried onions makes them a delicious side-dish for your lunch or dinner. Cooked bitter-gourd stays good in refrigerator for about 7-10 days.

Bitter gourd is claimed to stimulate digestion and also help in treating constipation, diabetes, immunization and there are many other medicinal properties. You can read more about it here.

Method:
1. Peel the serrated cover of bitter-gourds and make a lengthwise slit in the center. Do it with all the bitter-gourds. Rub some salt in and outside of bitter-gourds and put them in warm water for about 2 hours. This process will take care of removing the bitterness of the gourd.
2. Take the bitter-gourds out of water and let them dry a bit.
3. In a small bowl, add the finely minced onions and mix all the dry spices to it including salt and red chilli powder.
4. Using small spoons or hands, stuff the bitter-gourds with the onion mixture. Then tie the gourd with the thread so that the stuffing doesn't come out when we stir-fry it.

5. First heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and stir fry the long-thin onions with little bit of salt and red chilli powder until they turn translucent. Remember to put less of the salt and chilli powder as bitter-gourd stuffing too has the spices.
6. Take these onions out of pan and spread them on your serving plate.
7. Now heat the remaining 3 tbsp of oil in the pan, and stir fry the bitter-gourds while turning them in between, till they get tender and get black marks all over.

Serve the bitter-gourds on the bed of fried onions and enjoy with your favorite Indian bread.

PS: Remember to remove the threads that were tied on the bitter-gourd before eating.